HIGH street giant Boots showed the benefits of its modernisation drive today as it posted a 4.4 per cent rise in first quarter like-for-like sales at its core stores.

The health and beauty chain, which embarked on a é390m overhaul earlier this year, said the results reflected the positive response of customers to improvements.

Boots also revealed that nearly 40,000 of its employees had been given free shares worth around é7m this year.

Under the award, which was introduced in 2001, staff are awarded é250 of free shares every year. The increase in same-store sales at Boots the Chemist was slightly ahead of forecasts and helped lift total sales by 3.9 per cent.

Today's results follow the company's announcement in March that it faced "substantial challenges" to modernise its stores in the face of increased competition.

Since then it has introduced longer opening hours, extended Sunday openings, modernised pharmacies and introduced clearer signs in stores.

Boots has come under pressure in recent months as rivals such as Tesco slash health and beauty product prices to gain market share.